sds100 newbie for clinton and eaton counties

[bulldog9880]

hello,

I am ordering the sds100. But was wondering how hard it i will be to program police, fire, ems for my local area. I live on the boarder of Eaton and Clinton Counties. And would like to pickup Grand Ledge Police, Eaton/Clinton Sheriff traffic. I looked at radio reference and it appears that for the most part the digital channels are not encrypted. Will the Sentinel software be pretty straightforward in finding and selecting the channels I want? I see that different scanner distributors offer to pre program the scanner for me but I've read in previous threads that they don't always do a thorough job and that I'll end up needing to fine tune it anyhow. I grew up with scanners in the house years ago and just recently started listening to analog fire/ems on a baofeng uv5r and it has been fun. Would like to take it to the next level but I definitely have a lot to learn. Also, there's 2 airports pretty close to me (5 miles and 12 miles), can I pickup air traffic from those airports?

If anyone out there is close to me or would be willing to guide me if I need help, that would be much appreciated.

Thank you for reading this.

bulldog9880

 

[drdispatch]

Download the free Sentinel software here:

https://info.uniden.com/twiki/bin/view/Unidenman4/BCDx36HPSentinel

Once you get the scanner, you'll need to update the Master Database and the scanner's firmware, which can both be accomplished via Sentinel.

Through the Sentinel software, you can choose the county and system(s) you want to monitor and create a Favorites List. You'll want to monitor the MPSCS for sure; that's the statewide trunked system that numerous agencies use, including Eaton, Clinton, and Ingham Counties. Beyond that, there are many ways to configure the systems and departments you want to listen to. Experimenting with that is half the fun. That said, there is a learning curve with that scanner. It will be frustrating at times, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be hooked.

As far as the airports go, you should be able to hear the tower for the closest one, and maybe the other one depending on terrain; you'll hear aircraft in the area of both.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Welcome to the RR database. Your counties of interest operate on the trunked radio system below. You'll only be able to pick up talkgroups ID'ed as mode "D". Those ID'ed as mode "DE" are fully encrypted and therefore cannot be scanned with any scanner

https://www.radioreference.com/db/sid/100

 

[hruskacha]

the SDS 100 has a somewhat frustrating learning curve. I honestly hated my SDS100 at first because I simply didn't know how to use it to its fullest potential. After reading the manual several times and reviewing the "easier to read manual" [Link may be falsely screened as risky due to it not being updated in years. Certificate issues...] After learning the Quick keys, Site/Department/Channel Holds, and the menu layout, I was SUPER happy already! Attached is my Quick Key layout for my hometown of Muskegon, Michigan.

This was programmed with Uniden Sentinel and revised many times to optimize it for my use case (Fire Department Photographer / General Scanner Listener that posts to facebook scanner groups).

Quick keys allow you to quickly enable and disable different channels (talkgroups), Sites, Departments, systems, and sites.

Getting used to enabling quick keys(QK) using the #.#.# format on the SDS100 Keypad was kinda stubborn but totally worth it!! For general broad listening (Fire Dispatch, Police Dispatch, FD Paging), I would use quick keys 0.0.0 to enable the desired site (Muskegon County Simulcast) and 0.0.2 + 0.0.3 for Fire and Police Dispatch. If a fire occurs and I go to take photos, I'll disable the 0.0.3 QK (Police) so then my scanner will only listen for fire traffic and not be covered by police related traffic. If theres multiple fires at once, ill use the Channel hold to select it, then the temporary avoid to keep it out of my ears until I restart my SDS100.

With MPSCS's Digital P25 system, radio traffic from nearby counties can be picked up on my hometown's site (Muskegon County Simulcast) since they are routed that way. But some high traffic talkgroups may saturate another counties Trunked system (only so many people can talk at one given time, usually 12+, but sometimes as low as 3 or 4. Depends on Trunked Frequencies that are allocated). So if I cant hear Ottawa County Fire talkgroups (QK 0.0.12), I could enable Ottawa County Simulcast (QK 0.0.10) as a site and my scanner would scan that system for the talkgroup, as long as its in range. Some counties have very powerful sites / Simulcasts.





If you dont want to use Quick Keys, you can also use the full database and use the service types menu to select the specific categories you want to hear. (Expect to avoid some systems, channels, departments to get it scanning smoothly, as well as adjust Squelch [2 or 3 work best for digital systems]). Full database is used alongside the ZIP location feature to get the correct radio stuff near you. This mode also takes a few moments to load, so expect a possible 1-2 minute startup time, but it works great when exploring a new area that you are not familiar with.